


Complaints of Affection

by Ms_Julius



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Humor, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-29 03:28:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16255736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ms_Julius/pseuds/Ms_Julius
Summary: The HR representative of Hong Kong's Shatterdome is growing tired of Hermann's constant complains about Newton's shenanigans in the lab. And so, she decides to step in.





	Complaints of Affection

**Author's Note:**

> @geniusbeee mentioned in Twitter a prompt about Shatterdome's HR rep knowing Hermann is in love with Newt before he realises it himself, and I just had to go and write it! Had a blast, hope you guys like it.

As soon as she stepped inside her office, her eyes landed on a tall pile of papers, seated at the corner of her already overflowing work desk.

Oh yeah. It was Friday, wasn’t it.

With a hefty sigh and a generous sip from the full mug of black coffee, Katharine Jameson sat down on the office chair, eyeing at the offensing heap of papers. It shouldn’t come as a surprise by now, but somehow she had hoped that this week would be different. That today she would be able to finish her week without having to deal with an obnoxious stack of complaints concerning the two lone doctors left in the Shatterdome’s K-science division.

It was part of her job as a HR representative, sure, but there had to be a limit. Right?

Well, brushing it off would do her no good. It would only make her weekend a living hell, since doctor Gottlieb had made it into his mission to track her down during shared lunches in the cafeteria if she tried to push these thing into the next week. And so she let out another huff of breath in her otherwise silent office, and picked up the phone. It didn’t have a chance to ring for long.

A voice with harshly pronounced consonants answered to her, tone clipped and cold. “Doctor Gottlieb speaking.”

He sounded annoyed already.

Marvelous.

“Hi! This is Jameson from the Human Resources.” As if they hadn’t had this exact conversation every Friday as long as they’d both been working here. “I noticed you’d send me some... paperwork during the week.”

She attempted to keep her tone light, but in truth it was becoming increasingly more difficult to do so as she glanced at the pile in front of her. Reaching out, she grabbed one of the sheet and began to read it while talking at the same time. “It says here that you’re filing a complaint against doctor Geiszler for -” She had to take a double look before going on, “using a shared refreshment equipment as a improvised brewing container for kaiju’s entrails?” There had to be a typo somewhere in there.

“Ah, yes!” The tone of the voice over the line had turned a bit warmer, but to be honest, it didn’t offer Jameson much of a relief. Especially since the doctor continued with an obvious indignation, “I can assure you, the machine was completely unusable after he was done.”

“Uhh... And what machine are we talking about, exactly?” she asked carefully.

“Our coffeemaker, of course!” Naturally. “He filled it up with his... specimens and afterwards had the brass to claim to me that he’d washed it properly! You can’t wash away kaiju blue!”

Jameson could feel the headache raising, and took another sip of the coffee. “Doctor, wouldn’t this be a matter best solved between you and doctor Geiszler? You could always just order a new coffeemaker.”

“That’s not the point! If no actions are taken towards him, who knows what he’ll try to pull off next? He has already destroyed a numerous pieces of machinery by using them in improper manner, and just yesterday I caught him trying to store one of his experiments in the fridge down here!”

Deciding that this was as good time as any to let the conversation slide to a stop, Jameson took a look at the clock ticking on her wall, frowning when she saw it was already nearing 10 am. “Alright, this is what we’re going to do,” she said and took a pencil in hand, “I’m gonna go through these forms and when I’m done, I’ll give you a call and you can come up to see me in person. See if we can make some adjustment in regards to your situation.”

She didn’t expect him to refuse, and sure enough, “That would be perfect. Thank you, officer Jameson, I will see you in couple of hours.”

The call ended with a decisive clink. Jameson leaned back on the chair, aiming her gaze to the low-hanging roof above her. She was exhausted already, only after one phone call. And now she’d have to wade through a mountain of complaints looking for a solution she wasn’t even sure existed. It felt like they’d tried everything at this point; moving the two doctors to two separate rooms (failed due to the lack of space when new recruits had come aboard), offering three free sessions of counseling from the Shatterdome’s main psychologist (who had fled from his own office after spending half an hour in there with the two men), and even an additional bonus for whoever managed to maintain more stable and calm working environment (the Marshall had used the money to buy earplugs for the other members of the staff when it became clear that the money didn’t stop the bickering and only reduced the amount of flying kaiju parts by 5 %).

She was truly at loss.

Rubbing her stinging eyes and setting the coffee mug on the table, far away from the papers, she snatched couple of them and started to read.

 

**_“May 23, Monday_ **

**_Subject:_ ** _Filed complaint_

 **_Sent by:_ ** _Dr. Hermann Gottlieb, K-science_

 **_Additional information:_ ** _Despite my frequent requests, doctor Newton Geiszler refuses to lower the volume of the boombox system he installed in the lab (of which I also filed a report). The sound level is highly over a permitted limit, and therefore I am forced to express my desire to have the machine removed from our workspace as soon as possible.”_

 

**_“May 25, Wednesday_ **

**_Subject:_ ** _Filed complaint_

 **_Sent by:_ ** _Dr. Hermann Gottlieb, K-science_

 **_Additional information:_ ** _Doctor Newton Geiszler has regularly violated Shatterdome’s dress code during his working hours in the lab. He does not use proper protective gear while dissecting possibly poisonous samples of kaiju, nor does he cover visible parts of his skin (arms, shins, facial area) when in a presence of other members of the personnel. I demand a notion to be delivered to doctor Geiszler, informing him about these matters, by an officer of a higher ranking."_

 

They were more of the same, all of them. Complaints about doctor Geiszler’s manners in the lab, most of them completely acceptably by Jameson’s standards, or descriptions of Geiszler’s outer appearances which were quite fitting based of the image she had about the eccentric biologist. But there was an underlying tone to them, attention to the detail that rarely showed up in other reports Jameson had the displeasure to go through in her work. Markings of things nobody in their right mind would even notice, much less complain about. The longer she read, the clearer the picture became.

And as she picked up the phone once again, a plan had formed in her mind.

* * *

“Aah, doctor Gottlieb! Please, take a seat.”

At the doorway, a hunched over figure slipped past the threshold and stepped into the small office. Doctor Gottlieb had always striked to Jameson as a stern and rather self-conscious man, and her thoughts were confirmed when she saw the way the doctor glanced around himself in quick fashion, trying to hide the fact that he didn’t feel entirely at ease in other people’s spaces.

After a while though, he walked to the desk and sat down in a soft armchair Jameson kept for her visitors. Since her job included quite a bit of sitting and talking, she had come to notice that her ‘clients’ preferred to be seated in a comfortable chair rather than having to suffer through hours of talk on a rickety stool.

“So, doctor,” she said, smiling slightly, “I believe we were planning on talking about the complaints you’ve filed in in regards of your lab partner.”

His face tensed a little, but the note in his words was steady when he spoke out, “I believe so, yes.”

“And to find a way for you two to continue working together, despite the fact that you are literally at each other’s throat every time somebody visits you guys in the science wing.”

A wave of blush rushed up on Gottlieb cheeks. Ignoring it, she went on. “If you ask me, I think there is an issue here that needs to be addressed before we go any further.”

The man sitting across from here was now frigid as a pole, shoulders squared up and mouth pressed into a thin line. “And what might that be, officer Jameson?” He was talking slowly, his knuckles turning white around the cane.

But she had come this far already, and if this meant that she could have her Friday morning free of the mess caused by these two’s childish quarrels, she was more than happy to go all the way with it. “You need to seriously reevaluate your relationship with doctor Geiszler, _doctor_ Gottlieb.” She stressed the title, knowing it would hit a sore spot with this man. “From what I’ve seen, your complaints about him have nothing to do with how he may be acting while you’re working together. Indeed, most people would agree that the things you find distracting are perfectly normal in a job setting such as Shatterdome, where employees are forced to work closely with others in order for them to succeed.” She stopped for a moment, letting her words to sink in. “Are you certain there is no other explanation for your desire to point out doctor Geiszler apparent, although acceptable personal traits?”

The silence looming in the room was a heavy one. The only sound aside from the ticking of her wall clock was the humming she had started after she had said her piece. There was a peculiar look dancing on doctor Gottlieb’s face, an odd mixture of confusion and anguish, tinted with a spark of realization that provoked a hint of smile onto Jameson’s lips. She had got it through to him. Now it was just a matter of time.

As she watched with a cocky smirk on her face, her visitor stood up. He turned, calmly and heavily leaning on his cane, and began to walk to the doorway leading out to the hallways of the base.

Before he pulled the metallic door shut, he cleared his throat, voice low and pensive when he called out, “You... have given me a lot to think about, officer Jameson. However, I’d appreciate it if this conversation would stay between you and me, and entirely off the books?”

Pushing her chair back, and now smiling softly, she nodded. “Of course, doctor. Whatever you need.”

The door shifted closed, leaving the room in a mildly dimmer lighting, but Jameson couldn’t bring herself to care too much. She had a feeling that within couple of weeks, the pile on her desk would have grown considerably smaller.

And if not, well she could always talk to doctor Geiszler as well.

She was sure he’d be more than happy to help her out.


End file.
